Dog Faced Pony Soldier

For food I like to bring 1.5 servings of a protein shake that I’ll eat/drink at the turn. This means I pack 15oz of milk in a shaker cup and keep that in a small cooler bag. Then I pack 1.5 servings of my preferred protein for on the course (RuleOne “Pro6” multi source protein) and mix before drinking. If I can’t bring milk and need to slum it; I’ll bring my protein bar of choice “baR1” by RuleOne; and eat it with water. I am on a clean, high protein diet so I’m not about to have a hotdog or anything crappy. Also, I feel like my hands are not clean on the course, so I don’t want to eat anything that my hands are going to be touching, like nuts or fruit. I do usually have something like an apple on the way to the course. For hydration I usually use one of RuleOne’s BCAA drink mixes… Usually the “+Electrolytes” version if I’m sweating a lot, otherwise I like the “+Energy” versions that have caffeine. www.ruleoneprotiens.com

I used to race mountain bikes competitively, and wouldn’t think of showing up anyplace without my bike completely clean and lubed. Just maintaining the a bike’s drivetrain alone was way more work than cleaning my clubs. Because of this background I think nothing of scrubbing my clubheads with a brush and some Simple Green before I put the clubs away. I probably clean the grips once every month or two using a bit of dish soap on a brush.

I have the same JPX921 Forged except with Modus Tour 105 Stiff; and run the same shafts in my Vokey wedges. I really like the consistency of this arrangement and will run the same shafts in my irons and wedges until further notice.

We’re off topic but this actually might help someone so here’s the “link” to a discount on nearly everything purchased at retail. There’s no expiration date. Visit a retailer in person and speak to them face to face. Have an actual human interaction. Bring genuine paper cash money and communicate that you’re ready to buy today. Then, and this is the key point… provide a clear reason why it’s in the retailer’s interest to use a discount to win your business. If you accomplish this goal you will be “in” because there’s not a manufacturer dealer agreement contract in the US that restricts this negotiation between parties. The retailer can literally give you the goods for a 100% discount if you’re able to display why it’s in their interest to do so. Theres simply zero question if a retailer can discount. The challenge is generating a reason why someone should sell you something at below market value. Discounts absolutely can and are used every day to win business; even on newly released Callaway drivers. For me it’s astonishing to think this isn’t common knowledge, but perhaps my career in sales and brand management has provided clearer vision. Surely some will stubbornly continue to argue, but hopefully others will understand what’s possible. Good luck.

Adding truncated clip (without commentary) of Club Champion Perfect Fit Guarantee to the record. “…if your Club Champion-built clubs do not deliver the results you saw in the hitting bay at the time of your fitting, you should come back within 90 days after you pick up your clubs so we can make it right. If you come back during said 90-day period, we will work to adjust your Club Champion-built clubs to find the same or substantially the same results initially seen on TrackMan in the hitting bay during your fitting…”

My decades of direct professional experience managing protected brands at retail proves more to me than you and your hearsay ever will; so give it up and move on. Believe what you want; my life will not change a bit.

I've never heard anyone state that they "need" their shafts Pured. Personally I see the $35 charge for Puring as an optional assembly fee that's nominal and financially inconsequential. Whenever I hear people presume someone's equipment purchase displaced funding lessons I wonder why. The two aren't mutually exclusive. I assume its envy getting the better of them.

Its starting to get genuinely amusing to see people envision retailers really want to discount but that pesky dealer agreement prevents them. They’re selling at MAP because that’s the highest price accepted in the marketplace! If a salesperson really wants to sell someone clubs at a discount there isn’t a manufacturer’s dealer agreement in the US that says they have to sell at retail. As I said, it’s illegal to demand products be sold at any specific price. I close by challenging anyone to share any US retail dealer agreement that says otherwise. It doesn’t exist. By all means though, if you guys want to believe retailers are contractually prevented from discounting an in-person sale, it’s no skin off my back.

Not sure if we're still on topic or not but I'll continue to add my professional perspective if its welcome. Imagine you're (like me or the Ping manager) managing a major consumer brand with a protected network of authorized dealers. These agreements being made with retailers are anything-but happening by accident. Both parties are strategically and carefully choosing their partners. Being successful in this specific process itself is how and why people are getting paid to manage territories/regions. It's simply absurd to think a partnership would be broken over a single discounted in-person sale... especially after the salesperson invested so much time with them. It's like saying you divorced your wife because she spent too much money on groceries one time. If your friend's dealer had their account terminated it wasn't because of a discount given to a secret shopper; someone was already unhappy with the partnership. Perhaps that's why someone would invest in sending in a secret shopper.

Second point first... Interesting how people continue to struggle to understand the distinction between MAP and a sell price. You're accurately describing MAP policies you see being employed in umm, advertising. MAP has ZERO to do with what price retailers actually charge when selling the product. Every single hour of every day retailers sell products at a discounted price that MAP policy would prevent them from advertising. Often you'll even see this manifested in advertisements, where they mention "price too low to list," or "call for price." This is because they can't advertise the discounted price they are willing to sell the product for. This isn't unique nor exclusive to golf equipment. Not sure what your point is about components. What I'm taking issue with is the CC blogger's contention that MAP policy for full clubs somehow places a price limitation on club components. This literally makes zero sense. MAP nomenclature aside; is anyone here believing CC pays the same price for a component as the full club? I don't think anyone here believes that. At least I hope not but then again I'm still here explaining how a policy about the minimum price that can be used in advertisements places zero limitations on the sell price! Your post provides me an opportunity to update my thoughts on this topic. Upon reflecting on this, and looking up the blog entry author on LinkedIn; I now realize what we're really seeing is a blog entry by Marketing person who's understanding of sales is very limited. This is obvious to any professional B-to-B salesperson as MAP policy is simply not as described in the blog. I've decided to keep my CC driver fitting appointment; and even ordered SM9s from them today. I still think (and see here how) the blog entry is misleading though.

Novo Golf seems to have a strong reputation. https://www.novogolf.com

The more I think about the CC blog post’s clear lie about how retailers “have to” sell club components at full club MAP pricing; the more I don’t want to do business with them any longer. While I was/am okay with actually paying full price; the attempted deception itself just lost me as a customer. I’m considering canceling my driver fitting; and the three custom SM9 wedges I was ready to order. Luckily I live in Bergen County New Jersey where there’s plenty of other options for getting fit for custom clubs.

I respect your overarching point, but my several decades of career experience managing global brands in the most competitive retail market in the US makes very clear to me the BS this blog poster is trying to pull on people. Managing these retail situations for manufacturers falls exactly in my area of responsibility. That’s why I can see the deception and find it so offensive. This clear lie makes me lose some confidence in other statements being made in the blog post on topics where I don’t have intimate knowledge, like the club building and fitting process. I feel compelled to repeat my personal viewpoint, where I don’t take issue with the overall value I get for my money at CC. The individual line item prices aren’t what I’m concerned with when shopping because I’m not going there to buy a component “over the counter.” I’m buying the entire experience. What I’m looking at personally, is the bottom line price for what I’m getting. This includes the member benefits, convenience, product performance, etc.. I’ve been nothing but happy with CC… at least until seeing them try to BS people about MAP pricing.

Perhaps I broadened the conversation too much and distracted people? Allow me to tighten up the discussion for people not familiar with how this works. The plain fact is CC is not bound to SELL at MAP. MAP only describes what price a retailer can advertise. MAP simply puts zero limitations on the sell price. Thus the contention made in CC’s blog post is a clear lie.

The information at that link is pretty broad; and doesn’t allow someone to tell someone else what price they have to sell something. Regardless, the CC blog post is stating that MAP policy dictates that they are required to sell at MSRP. We all should agree their statement is absolutely and completely untrue. Keep in mind- The person chastising CC’s blog post (me) is a CC Member with a CC driver fitting already scheduled for early March. I believe in CC… I just am going to call out BS when I see it. The more I think about CC’s blog post I also take issue with the premise that components are required to be sold at the MSRP of a full club. Of course the MSRP of the component MAY be the same as the MSRP of the full club, but don’t try and tell us that parts of a product must be sold at the MSRP of the complete unit. That just BS. Does anyone really think CC pays the same for a clubhead as a full club? I don’t.